One cannot write about the EU without reference to the situation in the member states themselves and to the situation in the world. One can also no longer speak about the economy without including the political and social context.
In recent years, the EU has overcome two existential crises and shows a unity of action in many crucial areas: the ‘trade war’, Brexit, the sanctions against Russia, Iran, etc. The economic outlook in the eurozone for 2019 will remain close to 2% growth on average, in line with the performances of the past few years. But the strong slowdown in China, the trade war, the threat of Brexit and so on are taking their toll. This has not prevented 12 million jobs being created in the EU since 2014, however.
